Surrey stately home to discuss return of 19th-century carvings to New Zealand

Heeni Brown, a member of the delegation, said the Hinemihi carvings were a vital part of New Zealand history. Photograph: National Trust Images/Nick Meers

A Māori delegation will arrive in the UK this week to discuss the retrieval of carvings that have been at a stately home in Surrey for the past 130 years.

Forty-eight descendants of Hinemihi, who is embodied in the carvings of the Māori meeting house, will eventually bring new carvings in exchange under an agreement reached in 2019.